Nitish defends stand against Mumbai cop ops

After slamming MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his provocative comments against Biharis, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday defended his government's decision to raise objection to the manner in which Mumbai police arrested an accused for the denigration of a war memorial in Mumbai recently.

After slamming MNS chief Raj Thackeray for his provocative comments against Biharis, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday defended his government's decision to raise objection to the manner in which Mumbai police arrested an accused for the denigration of a war memorial in Mumbai recently.

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"The DGP's letter to his Mumbai counterpart expressing disapproval of the way Mumbai police team picked up a youth from Sitamarhi without involvement of the local police, is totally justified," said the chief minister, while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the janta durbar.

However, the chief minister did not talk much on the statement made by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray that Bihar government should have appreciated the role of Mumbai police for their swift action in the case.

"Everybody has an opinion. I have nothing to say on that," he said. Asked whether the Shiv Sena was not an ally in the NDA coalition, Kumar said his party had no alliance with the Sena.

"The JD(U) has an alliance with the BJP in Bihar. It has no truck with the Sena in Mumbai," he said.

On Sunday, Kumar had slammed Thackeray, dubbing the latter as a deranged person for his comments that his outfit would brand Biharis in Maharashtra as ‘infiltrators' if the Bihar government created hurdles in Mumbai police operations.

On Monday, the chief minister said the Mumbai police operation to pick up a youth from Sitamarhi was done in contravention of the guidelines of inter-state police operations, as circulated by the Union home ministry.